Name:
Shimizu Kaori
Age:
At least 400 years as one might expect, though she comments she's fairly young for a Jorogumo and stopped really counting at the end of the Edo period.
Gender:
Female
Race:
Yurikumo
Jorōgumo
Appearance:
Kaori often appears as a young girl between the ages 20 to 25, if a bit taller. Dressed in elegant kimono's and other traditional clothing made from her own silk, she often appears a touch more elegant than what is found in modern society - or at least likes to think she does.
Personality:
In one word, Kaori is a Lonely little spider.
The Jorogumo comes off as a playful, affectionate sort with a slight lascivious side to her - which perhaps, is somewhat expected considering what she is. Jorogumo after all, according to mythology, seduce men in order to eat them. Kaori once again rather adheres to the mythology in this regard...the only difference with her, is well, she prefers 'snacking' on adorable little girls.

Under that however, is a spider prone to bouts of loneliness and falling into old habits. She's not a bad sort, deep down, really, despite playing very close to most Jorogumo mythology. She simply craves physical affection of any kind, and without someone there to reaffirm such feelings she simply falls back into old habits. She's friendly and polite towards most people, and dislikes confrontation. Still, she is a Jorogumo with a history of preying on humans. When dealing with things that threaten her or someone she cares about...merciless is an apt word.

Abilities:
Jorogumo posses a number of abilities, most of less than directly combative nature. Like others of her kind, Kaori possesses a cunning intelligence and a natural predisposition to cruelty, though she at least seems to have some restraint when it comes to that.
In more supernatural abilities, Kaori has the ability to produce extremely fine, durable silk possessing strength similar to that of fine steel wire. Often used to ensnare, bind, and prevent her prey from escaping. Most of her clothing is made from it, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better fabric for making lightweight, extremely protective clothing from. As well, she can produce a potent, extremely powerful venom from her bite. While short term it works to physically weaken, lead to memory loss and loss of fine motor control, it isn't lethal unless sustained exposure is kept.
A number of spiders often follow her around, and she can both communicate and control most arachnids. Want to know what's happening around the city? Well, she can probably tell you. Such an information network was how she was able to evade public eye for quite some time.
Skills:
Cooking, cleaning, sewing, basic first aid, living as long as she has, she has picked up on a few miscellaneous skills, most notably in the domestic department. She loves spending nights out, practicing her singing.
Equipment:
Clothing made from her own silk. Durable stuff.
Does a legion of spiders count?
Brief Backstory:
Kaori has lived in the area for a surprisingly short amount of time, moving into the area some five odd years ago. Where she was and what she was doing before then, she doesn't really care for or like talking about. At some point after living so long, sometimes you just really stop caring. She comments sometimes about being from Shizouka Prefecture, but little else.

As one might expect, as soon as she moved in she started to cause mischief, doing her utmost best to hide her shenanigans and preventing from humans catching on. She wasn't greedy, after all, and had a particular method for making sure she didn't get caught.

Two girls a year. Taking them off the streets at night, no one would miss them for some time. A little venom made them not remember much, even if they escaped. She didn't eat or hurt them, no. In fact, she often let them go. Having her darling little spiders take care of evidence and making sure most didn't even recall anything, made for an easy time hiding her tracks. This went on for four years, until she started to get a little more aggressive in her trouble making.

Because of this, eventually someone starting putting what evidence was left behind together and tracked her down to where she lived. She thought it was just going to be a rather boorish onmyouji, but she was in for quite the surprise. Instead of some battle hardened mage or mystic, was what could only be described as the most adorable little girl Kaori had ever seen. Why was she out there hunting Youkai! So dangerous! If it had been any other Jorogumo aside from her, the poor thing probably would have been eaten alive.

After a brief confrontation, Kaori conceded. If the girl wouldn't willingly let her take care of her, then she'd just have to help her. So she let the girls she had abducted go, most in fairly good health and she started helping this Suzuki Tomoko with her duties, whatever they might be.

Name: Abe Sonoko

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Race: Human (Mage)

Appearance: A beautiful teenage girl whose darker hair, chocolate eyes, and rather maturing figure have drawn many an eye among her peers. Whether in casual attire or even her high school's uniform, however, she even still tends to draw such attention due to her appearance.

Personality: A top-tier school idol who carries herself with absolute confidence and authority, and who never hestitates to do as she wants to and to say what she wants to say. Many think her to just be the 'cool school idol', or the 'girl whose very presence turns heads', and even she herself feels and believes this to an extent, but underneath it all she is a highly intelligent and very much human individual. For all her natural talents and honed skills, and all the hard work ethic she applies, she is also incredibly lonely underneath it all. She can turn heads, flirt as she wishes, turn others down, and look sexier than all the rest as part of her willful and proud nature, but in the end being 'at the top' has placed her in a position she doesn't envy either. She feels she became 'untouchable to others', a goddess or idol or creature beyond the reach of a normal human being. Likewise, her pride and overconfidence in herself can and have gotten her into spells of trouble before...personally and otherwise. Yet one should not underestimate her drive and resolve, as well as her loyalty to those who might manage to connect with her. When she starts a job, she intends to finish it!

Affinity: Lightning (an affinity tied to curses due to being a "terrible event" and tied to "punishment", energizing and animating things, movement, heat, and the flow of energy. It also produces illumination, being tied to light, and is associated with burning away/smiting one's enemies. It is also associated with supernatural projectiles, like ancient thunderstones and the likes of: elf arrows, elf bolts, elf darts, or fairy arrows cast down by lightning strikes in ancient times.)

Abilities: Sonoko can utilize a small variety of western magic- Runes, Curses and Enchantments (including firing curses and enchantments at targets as/like projectiles), elemental Lightning magic, movement speed and reaction time/perception augmenting spells, spells that create/generate light, and even the likes of Necromancy and spells to animate objects/inanimate things are in her versatile retinue of magical skills.

Skills: With her being a top-grades student and athletic individual, she is, for a teenage human girl and young talented mage at least, physically fit and distinctly a versatile but potent book-smarts kind of intelligence. This includes her library of magical education, locked away in her head and rather good memory, and her general athleticism that makes her at least able to handle a situation such as running away or sprinting to a location to assist someone. One could call her more so a "generally well-rounded individual" rather than a specialist when it comes down to it.

Beyond this her skills tend to strike a certain balance with her varied weaknesses, as for example what she fully lacks in the skills of a deductive detective she makes up for in raw book smarts and magical knowledge. What she lacks in street-smarts or such non-book-related knowledge, she tries to make up for in raw work ethic or what she knows. What she lacks in any non-magical physical combat ability, she makes up for in her general athleticism and stamina. What she lacks in her mere human-level durability and squishiness, she tries to make up for in thinking on her feet.

Equipment: Necklace with a small golden cross on it (cross is hidden in her shirt when worn), notebook and pen (for writing notes, ideas, thoughts, etc in),

Brief Backstory: A mage whose family became 'secret Christians' very long ago, after having branched off as an offshoot from an old family of Japanese onmyo due to certain internal disputes, who to earn money went about acting as intermediaries and mediators with western merchants for profit. Eventually during the early Edo Period they then fatefully saved the life of a German mage, who himself had been chased off by pursuing local magical authorities after accidentally angering some locals onmyo, which in turn led to them being taught western magic as thanks before the mage was smuggled out. Then after the Meji Restoration finally came about, the family's wealth and business dealings netted them immense wealth that even today continues to build and build. While these things have netted them an influential position within the western magic community in Japan by modern times, they and the familial relatives their ancestors broke off from still seem to retain a sort of enmity and grudge...albeit it is a passive, not active, issue between them.

Sonoko was born the second child to this (her) family's head, and like her siblings was drilled in the workings of magic from a very young age. She eventually proved to be a child prodigy of sorts, at least among her family members and siblings, and plans to send her to the Tower to learn magic later have already been made. Here she proved to be a dazzling student, at the very least in her own right, cultivating her skills and talents and ultimately high grades until she was finally sent back home to Japan after being tutored by a talented western family friend overseas for a time.

Back at school in Japan, however, she has since become a "top tier student" and "school idol" whose excellent grades, athletic performance, and work ethic have been lauded by both her peers and her teachers. Many boys and girls have had crushes on her, a brave few attempting to profess those feelings, though she herself professes that 'I am not as perfect as others think' despite her seemingly high confidence. Though with new events lingering on the horizon, Sonoko's general swiss-army-knife of western magical knowledge and skills might be needed for another purpose altogether...